You could say I am miffed to find myself discussing a hurricane threat on this page but when I say “miffed” I mean something far stronger and less delicate. I dare say I am annoyed that not only did Hurricane Nicole put in an appearance but the storm is heading dead due west to collide with my plans.
Layne was going to leave Thursday from Miami to fly to San Francisco to gather in Santa Cruz for a friend’s 70th birthday. However that plan got scotched by Nicole’s untimely appearance and she left yesterday flying from Key West to Charlotte and then off to the wild west. Leaving me looking at a map of the entire rain soaked state of Florida the next couple of days. So I’m hunkering until this wretched thing passes. I have books to read and a dog to walk. I am set and best of all I don’t have to be locked down at work.
The first thing I thought as I looked at the wide sweep of storm weather covering almost all Florida was how ready are they in Southwest Florida to get rained upon? I think Hurricane Ian was plenty for them to deal with at the moment. This was Monday’s track when we started changing our plans:
The Keys, Flamingo of fond memory and Pensacola are spared a spanking. Paula and Ivan are okay with me staying put a few more days to wait for the weather to pass so that seems sensible. My plans for solitude in north Florida woods are delayed it seems, not cancelled.
Originally we were going to see friends in Miami and stay the night with Layne flying out on Thursday morning. So much for that. We just have to stay adaptable and feel lucky that we aren’t in the direct path. These days even a category one storm feels excessive to my delicate nerves. The trouble is storms don’t act predictably and we have nowadays sudden unexpected increases in strength and changes of direction at the last minute. I don’t feel much like it but here I am watching a hurricane develop once again.
Some rain and wind is the forecast in the Keys as we wait and see what Nicole does and what Rusty and I will do in response. This is way better than putting up storm shutters and making my bed in the police station.
I keep telling Rusty we can’t close our eyes to the possibilities of foul weather messing with our plans but he keeps ignoring me. Maybe I should do as he does, closes his eyes and smiles.
